Thoughts on Life, Love, Politics, Hypocrisy and Coming Out in Mid-Life

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Macron Tears Down Trumpism

During an address to a joint session of Congress French President Emmanuel Macron demonstrated that he is everything that Donald Trump is not: young, handsome, well spoken, able to show empathy for others, and cares beyond simply himself. Indeed, he looks and acts presidential while Trump comes across as crude, not overly bright trailer park trash with money. I will confess that I love the French and that Paris is perhaps my favorite city in the world. I also - unlike, I suspect far too many Americans - know that France is America's oldest ally and that but for the French fleet which blocked British reinforcements, the battle of Yorktown would have likely been lost by the American army under George Washington. Likewise, many of the founding principles of America embraced by the Founding Fathers trace back across the Atlantic to French writers. Thus, it was proper that Macron reminded Americans of everything being lost under the toxic Trump/Pence regime. A piece in the Washington Post looks at Macron's speech. Here are highlights:

Before French President Emmanuel Macron delivered an address at
a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday, the headlines about his trip to
Washington centered on his apparent “bromance” with President Trump.

But
on Wednesday, as his three-day visit drew to a close, Macron shifted the story
dramatically. In his speech to American lawmakers, he offered a comprehensive rejection of the
main tenets of Trumpism, excoriating
“extreme nationalism” and protectionism, championing climate-change science and
defending the international liberal order. “You can play with anger and
fear for a time,” Macron said, alluding to the themes that fuel
right-wing nationalist movements in the West, “but they do not construct
anything.”

Macron went on, urging his American audience to look beyond
borders and walls. “We can choose isolationism. But closing the door to the
world will not stop the evolution of the world,” he said. And he
bristled at the rise of autocrats and illiberal democrats, which include some leaders favored by Trump: “I don’t share
fascination for new strong powers and the illusion of nationalism,” he said.

Macron also cast a skeptical eye at Trump's efforts to
slap tariffs on imports from allies and undermine existing
free-trade deals. To Macron, this bid to boost American manufacturing jobs
at home — combined with Trump's dismissals of climate change as
a “hoax” — was counterproductive and shortsighted.

“Some people think that
securing current industries and their jobs is more urgent than transforming our
economies to meet the challenge of global change,” he said. In the final
analysis, he suggested, the impasse cannot last. “In the long run, we will have
to face the same realities,” he said. “We’re just citizens of the same planet.”

There's no “Planet B,” Macron pointed out, echoing an earlier
argument he made about there being no “Plan B” for the Iran nuclear deal that Trump wants to dismantle. Then he drew thunderous
applause from Democrats with this confident declaration: “I am sure one day the
United States will come back and join the Paris agreement.”

Macron also played the role of the proud transatlantic
ally. He hailed the historic French-American
friendshipand the two countries' shared sacrifices
from World War II to the current fight against Islamist militant groups in
various parts of the world. And he predictably appealed to a love of
liberty and the many other cultural connections between
the two countries.

Macron also summoned legacies
largely ignored by Trump. . . . . . “Human rights, the rights of
minorities and shared liberty are the true answers to the disorder of the
world,” Macron said to Congress. Meanwhile, across the street at the Supreme
Court, the Trump administration pressed its case to impose blanket travel bans on certain Muslim-majority countries.

There are few things Washington officialdom loves
to discuss more than the importance of American leadership in the world.
Macron did not disappoint. He reminded Democrats and Republicans that the
nuclear deal Congress approved in 2015 was worth defending, and that
the alternatives — a confrontation that may lead to war with Iran — would “replicate past mistakes.”

He also told his audience of the importance of the world order
that “you built,” pointing to the institutions and international norms
developed after World War II. . . . . “You are the one now who has
to help preserve and reinvent it,” he added, calling on Washington to help
build a new world order “based on a more effective, accountable, and
results-oriented multilateralism.”

Macron “solidified his standing as leader of the West (to the
extent there still is a West) by his call today before Congress for an updated
liberal world order to meet regional, global challenges,” tweeted Richard Haass, the president of
the Council on Foreign Relations and a doyen of the Washington policy
establishment. “His problem is a lack of partners in Europe and here in U.S.”

“The most likely result is that the American president
won’t pay attention to what Macron was trying to say — indeed, that he won’t
even understand that he has been so openly challenged,” wrote Post columnist Anne Applebaum. “And that
may have been the point, for Macron’s speech will be perfectly understood in
France, in Europe, and even in the United States (at least outside the
White House).”

Former secretary of state
Madeleine Albright, an inveterate Atlanticist, echoed the sentiments of many in her milieu with
a tweeted jab at Trump: “It has been too long since
a President delivered a speech in Washington about the need to defend democracy
and support international cooperation.”

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Out gay attorney in a committed relationship; formerly married and father of three wonderful children; sometime activist and political/news junkie; survived coming out in mid-life and hope to share my experiences and reflections with others.
In the career/professional realm, I am affiliated with Caplan & Associates PC where I practice in the areas of real estate, estate planning (Wills, Trusts, Advanced Medical Directives, Financial Powers of Attorney, Durable Medical Powers of Attorney); business law and commercial transactions; formation of corporations and limited liability companies and legal services to the gay, lesbian and transgender community, including birth certificate amendment.

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